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Near the end of the 20th century, WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) are retired. However, certain factions plan to use a science space station as a weapon against each other. The astronauts inside will decide the world's fate. | Add synopsis »

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The most expensive (about 1.2 million DM) student film in Germany.See more »

Goofs:

Factual errors: The space station is said to "be 189 kilometers above Earth". Earth orbit cannot be maintained easily below about 250km where atmospheric drag slows satellites sufficiently that they fall to Earth.See more »

The year is 1997, and World Peace seems to have come, with most classic
weapons of mass destruction having been abandoned. However, orbiting the
Earth there is the European/American space station FLORIDA ARKLAB, capable
of controlling the weather at any location on the planet underneath. A civil
project by nature, it might be abused as an offensive weapon, since it could
deliver devastation to any potential adversary simply by creating natural
disasters such as storms and floods. No wonder the space station soon
becomes the central point in rising political tensions between East and
West, next stop World War 3 (as indicated by the German tagline (transl.)
"The end of our future has already begun"). We're following the main
protagonist Billy Hayes, an astronaut aboard the station, as he wades
through a plot of secrecy and sabotage trying to tell friend from foe in the
process.

This film is the first "real" movie by Roland Emmerich, and knowing his
later works, it is, simply speaking, surprisingly good. First off, it was
and is a visual treat by any standard, with well-crafted models and a
set-design that made a point in trying to look as realistic as possible. At
that, it is visually reminiscent of many other movies from that era (Star
Wars or Moonraker, to name some), but doesn't fail nearly as badly as some
of them do; it simply looks good. And what's more, this movie has a story
that makes some sense and won't let you leave your seat until it is
resolved. The acting is good, the characters are well drawn and partly are
in for some surprise. The general mood is by no means optimistic, this is
definitely a Cold War scenario, which nowadays of course has the tendency to
make you chuckle, considering that 1997 looked totally different than
portrayed in the movie.

Bottom line: if you know later Emmerich blockbusters such as ID4 and
Godzilla, you definitely notice his handwriting in this one, and seeing the
path he took from here on makes sense. But much unlike said later works,
this movie excells not only in the audio and CGI department, but also has
something like characters and storyline. People liked ID4 as a cineastic
lollipop, but as a film, this one is far better than most

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